The Huckabee Factor  —  Mike Huckabee walked into the lobby of the Des Moines Marriott at 5:30 a.m. on Dec. 3, deposited an armful of dirty laundry at the desk and checked to make sure he was being credited with Marriott Rewards points toward his next stay.  Then, accompanied by his wife …

Dems and GOP deadlocked as adjournment draws near  —  Congress has been brought to a grinding halt by hardening Democratic and Republican stances on taxes and spending just days before lawmakers begin leaving Washington for Christmas and New Year's.  —  The two sides are, in some cases …

A FISA fix  —  One of the most critical matters facing Congress is the need to enact long-term legislation updating our nation's foreign intelligence surveillance laws.  Intercepting the communications of terrorists and other intelligence targets has given us crucial insights into the intentions …

The Dream Is Dead  —  The man crowned by Tommy Franks as "the dumbest [expletive] guy on the planet" just made the dumbest [expletive] speech on the planet.  —  Doug Feith, the former Rummy gofer who drove the neocon plan to get us into Iraq, and then dawdled without a plan as Iraq crashed into chaos …

Paper Trail  —  Who authorized the CIA to destroy interrogation videos?  —  NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE  —  The CIA repeatedly asked White House lawyer Harriet Miers over a two-year period for instructions regarding what to do with "very clinical" videotapes depicting the use of "enhanced" …

WHAT HAPPENED TO JAMIE LEIGH JONES IN BAGHDAD?  —  Bob Owens takes a close look at the allegations of a gang rape in Iraq's Green Zone in 2005 by employees of KBR, and finds some omissions and inconsistencies in the ABC News scoop.  —  Support Pajamas Media; Visit Our Advertisers

JEWS' SUBWAY HERO A MUSLIM  —  SAVES 'HANUKKAH' RIDERS FROM THUGS  —  A Brooklyn man whose "Happy Hanukkah" greeting landed him in the hospital said he was saved from a gang of Jew-bashing goons aboard a packed Q train by a total stranger - a modest Muslim from Bangladesh.

FIRST THOUGHTS: LAST IA DEBATE  —  From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro  —  DES MOINES, IA — The last GOP debate until IA: The seemingly endless debate parade of 2007 began — on the Republican side — at the Reagan Library in California, underneath Reagan's own Air Force One.

The Roots of the Mortgage Crisis  —  Bubbles cannot be safely defused by monetary policy before the speculative fever breaks on its own.  —  On Aug. 9, 2007, and the days immediately following, financial markets in much of the world seized up.  Virtually overnight the seemingly insatiable desire …

Worst Headline of the Day Award  —  The thinly veiled sexism oozing out of today's Examiner column by veteran local politics observer Harry Jaffe is hard enough to take, but to whomever thought up this gem of a headline, be they copy editor or author, DCist salutes your willingness to go boldly …

Bush: 'I Doubt I'd Be Standing Here If I Hadn't Quit Drinking Whiskey'  —  President Bush Opens Up About Past Alcohol Addiction During Exclusive Interview with ABC News' Martha Raddatz  —  In an exclusive interview with ABC News, President Bush spoke more candidly than ever before about his past alcohol addiction.

The Pope condemns the climate change prophets  —  Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.  —  The leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics suggested …